The Ultimate Badass

A while back I posted about an article on Wired.com that discussed how one would go about killing a 500-foot monster that was invading Manhattan. It seems to me that a lot movies and such are stuck in the direction of where the ultimate badass is some enormous monster, spewing fire and crushing buildings with its pinky finger. (Now, when I say “badass” I don’t necessarily mean “bad guy;” more of a character that makes the viewer say “Wow. That guy is really badass!” So that means the badass can be a good guy) Then there are some where the ultimate badass is a single person or a group of people. Take Star Wars for example: In Episode I, you’ve got Darth Maul for the ultimate badass, then in Episode II you’ve got Mace Windu, and by the time the classic ones come around, Darth Vader takes the cake as the ultimate badass (but not when he’s still played by Hayden Christenson, because he’s a really shitty actor).

My issue with this, however, is that these are all fictional characters. Granted they’re played by real people, they aren’t real. So that brings me to my next point. The true ultimate badass is a real person. Right away, I guarantee there will be a good portion of people in whose mind “Chuck Norris” enters. But I no longer consider him the ultimate badass. Yes, he’s a great actor; yes, he’s a badass, but I wouldn’t use the qualifier “ultimate” when saying what a badass Chuck Norris is. Others would argue that Vin Diesel is the ultimate badass, and, in fact, there was a time when Vin Diesel was more popular that Chuck Norris; they even took some of the Chuck Norris-isms and changed them to include Vin Diesel.

But there’s one person who is completely overlooked in this whole picture: Samuel L. Jackson. Two of his more well-known roles include Shaft and Mace Windu. But he also played Jules in Quentin Tarrentino’s Pulp Fiction and Coach Carter in Coach Carter. Though, why do I consider Samuel L. Jackson to be the ultimate badass? Well, for one, he’s never referred to by anything other than “Samuel L. Jackson.” There’s no Sam Jackson, or Samuel Jackson, or Sam L. Jackson: everybody always refers to him as “Samuel L. Jackson.” That’s very rare, especially in an age where there are people who go only by a first name (Cher) or a one-word stage name (Adrock).

However, there is a lot more to Mr. Jackson than just a name. As a person alone, he’s badass. When asked to play the role of Mace Windu in Star Wars Episode I, II and III, he refused to do so unless he could have a purple lightsaber. So what color lightsaber does he have in the movies? That’s right: purple. As an actor (but not considering the roles he’s played), he’s badass. To be able to go from a character like Jules in Pulp Fiction, where he plays a hit man for a gangster to Coach Carter, a stern but fatherly basketball coach, takes a lot of skill. And to top that off, he even switches modes within the movie/character itself. Take Mace Windu for example: in one moment he’s a calm Jedi talking things over with young Anakin, and in the next moment he’s chopping people in half with his lightsaber. You don’t get that very often from actors.

Lastly, what makes Samuel L. Jackson the ultimate badass is the multitude of roles he plays in the movies. Probably the earliest role that I’m familiar with (i.e. I’ve seen the movie) is that of Jules in Pulp Fiction. Like I mentioned before, he plays a hit man for a gangster, paired up with John Travolta. Before killing someone, he recites a Ezekial 25-13 from the Bible: “The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.” He says himself at the end of the movie that line is pretty badass. Add to that the fact that his wallet has “Bad Motherf%^&er” printed on it, and you’ve got a well-rounded badass character.

I’ve already explained how his role as Mace Windu is so badass. I, quite frankly, would rather have to fight Darth Maul than Mace Windu. So you can imagine that I was pretty peeved when Darth Sidious killed Mace Windu. You just can’t do that.

He’s played in a wide range of other roles as well, each one no less badass than the previous. This is why Samuel L. Jackson gets my vote for the title of: “Ultimate Badass.”